Recipes: Beef, Chorizo and Green Olive Stew

This one is an absolute winner in our house, and even had our ‘vegetarian’ 7 year old cleaning her plate up, and our 3 year old proclaiming it ‘nicer than Spaghetti Bolognese’!

You wouldn’t traditionally think of beef and olives working together, but with the chorizo thrown in amongst the other favours everything comes together so fantastically.

This one is definitely best using a slow cooker using the 7 hour setting, but any oven proof casserole dish would be fine too. Just make sure you cook on a low heat for as long as you can (min 2.5 hours).

Serves 6

You will need:

1kg of diced steak

6 chorizo sausages or 400g of sliced chorizo

2 red onions, chopped

150g chopped or tinned green beans

1/2 a cup of red wine, most red wines work well for this

160g approx of pitted green olives

Garlic Puree

Tomato Puree

Bay Leaves

2 Sprigs of Rosemary

Dash of Chilli Powder (Mild)

Dash of Mixed Herbs

1/2 a cup of red wine

2 cups of beef stock

If you’re using a casserole dish, just make sure it’s oven proof and and place it onto a medium heat hob before putting it in the oven.

Put your slow cooker on Saute, add a good glut of olive oil and put your onions, 1 large tablespoon of garlic puree, 2 bay leaves and one sprig of rosemary in together. Add a little salt and pepper and cook for a 5 mins of so or until the onions start to soften. Add your red wine, and cook the alcohol out for a minute or so. By the time the dish is finished it will be well and truly cooked out so don’t worry.

Then add the beef, taking care to stir as much as possible so that everything is mixed together. Whilst your doing this, throw your chorizo onto a George Foreman or under the grill for around 7 mins (this will give the beef time to seal). Then take out the chorizo, slice any way you want and throw those in too.

Once the beef is a grey colour all over, you should add 1 large tablespoon of tomato puree, the 2 cups of beef stock, 2 more bay leaves, the dash of chilli powder, the mixed herbs and the green olives. Finally, a good helping of salt and pepper then get the lid on for the slow cook.

Again, 7 hours using your slow cooker, 2.5 hours in a casserole dish in the oven. The slow cooker will produce better results, but it really is your choice.

Once it’s been cooking for around 2 hours, you’ll most likely find that the urge to go in, rip the lid off and start tucking in is pretty strong – but don’t! Wait as long as you can!

I find this dish is served best with 3 pouches of microwaveable basmati rice and crusty bread rolls, fresh from the bakery.

Enjoy!